Chapter 86 - That Bossy Girl (Patreon)

“You’re Jiran of Feylon!” Olive shouted as she pointed her hunk of meat in his direction.

Jiran cringed as her shout turned her voice into a shrill screech. Mayalyn jerked into a defensive crouch with lightning springing between her extended claws. Cameron continued to beat himself to death while making gurgling sounds as his dinner tried to end him.

“What is happening?! Are they going to attack again?” Mayalyn spoke quickly, her eyes dancing between the two.

“I don’t think so? It seems like maybe they know me.” Jiran turned toward Olive after reassuring Mayalyn. “How do you know my name?” Jiran spoke soothingly while holding his palms up in a placating gesture.

“This… I… Y-you do look like him, but I have to confirm. There’s no way I can believe you’re really him until you prove it.” Her face scrunched for several seconds before she continued with a snap of her fingers. “What do you know about the assassin, Mark the Hiss?”

Cameron finally finished choking. He took several deep lungfuls of sweet, life-giving air with lidded eyes and a light smile.

“Are you kidding? Why would I know an assassin and what kind of stupid ass name is Mark the Hiss? Never heard of him.”

Olive’s shoulders sagged as her earlier exuberance drained away.

Oh wait, that insane bandit guy was named Markhiss. Is that who she's talking about?

“Are you talking about Markhiss? That bandit guy who kidnapped those noble… kids… Holy crap it’s you! You’re that bossy girl from the cage!” Jiran pointed at the blonde which elicited a bark of laughter from Cameron.

I keep forgetting it’s been a year since then, of course they would have grown up!

“You were there too. You look a lot different without the scar,” Cameron’s laughter died and his mouth fell open. He slowly looked between Olive and Jiran before dropping to his knees, his arms falling to hang limply at his sides.

“It’s really you. I-I-I was right!” Olive tilted her head back and yelled while pumping her fists into the air.

What the hell is going on with her? Is she nuts? Maybe we would be better off leaving her here and trying to get an audience with that Reinhard guy on our own.

When she noticed him looking at her with his lip curled up, she calmed herself with a deep breath before speaking in a rush.

“Master Filibree, the Sage of Salandor, said you disappeared into a tear in reality. He was sure you lived yet had no details about your whereabouts. The search for you lasted three whole seasons before you were announced dead. Not even the emperors were able to locate you, so your demise was all but a foregone conclusion. I never believed it though. I knew you lived. I knew it!”

“The Sage of Salandor? Lenton has such a cheesy title? No wonder he never told me about it,” Some of Jiran’s earlier disgust drained away as he laughed out loud.

Suddenly, Olive turned around in a flash and pointed her finger at the distraught Cameron. “Pay up!” Her other hand was on her hips and her chin jutted into the air.

He groaned while slowly shaking his head back and forth. “Right now? Don’t be like that, dearest cousin. I-I protected you didn’t I? I followed you all the way out here!”

Olive didn’t relent for a second as her eyes narrowed. “You also complained every step of the way. You made the bet, now do it!”

Cameron fell forward until his forehead pressed into the dirt. He spoke like a man who lost his will to live, his robotic voice devoid of emotion.

“You are right and I am wrong. You are the queen of all things and I am but a foolish mortal who does not know his place. Please, I beg of you, teach this fool the ways of your wisdom,” He finished with a gagging convulsion before he spit on the ground.

Olive ate it up as she chuckled with a malicious gleam in her eyes. Cameron slowly climbed to his feet, then a sudden realization sparked newfound hope within him. He looked at Olive with a straight back and a firm jaw.

“This isn’t over yet, we made one more bet and there’s no way you’re winning this one!” With a ferocious intensity, Cameron glared at Jiran. “What tier were you when you saved us? You were tier four or five already, right?”

Unh-uh, nope, no way.

“While I appreciate that you two have some kind of bet going on between you to showcase your humiliation fetishes, I have no intention of telling you anything about myself. If you want to guess at my tier then or now, go right ahead.”

“Do you know where Lenton is now?” Jiran asked Olive.

“How can you be so disrespectful toward Master Filibree, the Sage of Salandor?! Are you not his honored disciple? And no, I do not know his whereabouts, he remains the reclusive, enigmatic genius he always was,” Suddenly, she was very interested in her discarded meal and went to retrieve it.

A shimmer of gray light spread across the meat’s surface before she took a big bite. Immediately, her face contorted as she held the meat as far away from her as possible.

Was that forming? Just a few more kills and I'll be able to test it out for myself. I wonder if its a noble thing to call someone by their title, name, and accomplishment every time they talk about them. Does she seriously have no idea how embarrassing that sounds? I don’t ever want to say that out loud. It’s even worse than Big Bang! Sage of Salandor? Enigmatic genius? Just wow.

“Nevermind, I’m sure I’ll run into him sooner or later. Anyways, I want to get things moving as soon as possible. After eating, we’ll head to Mortan to meet that noble.”

“We should wait at least a day, perhaps two,” She spoke carefully, clearly trying to be diplomatic with her request while setting the meat down and backing away from it.

Jiran waited for her to explain further but she remained silent. After several seconds he sighed before forcing the conversation forward.

“Why would we wait? It might take a while to meet… Reihnhardt? And there could be other complications that delay us. I don’t have time to deal with all of that, the sooner the better.”

“Please, I need to rest before deciding what is the best course of action. Perhaps we should further discuss Mayalyn’s people or how best we can work together. Also, would it not be prudent to speak with them first and determine their stance on any potential negotiations?”

“I have no idea, this isn’t something I’ve ever dealt with before. Talking to the Aahmra first does sound like a good idea though, thanks.”

“Then there is the issue of communication to resolve. Are you currently the only imperial who can speak with them?”

Crap, I just want to ascend. Getting entrenched in some drawn-out political shenanigans is the last thing I want to be doing right now. Though I’m responsible for bringing them here so I can’t just shove this off on someone else and hope it works out for the best.

“Yes, I’m likely the only one who can communicate with them. We’ll leave tomorrow then, to the People."

The sooner we go, the sooner I can get back here. But one day won’t hurt. I’ll finish today’s kills then do tomorrow's first thing in the morning. Once that’s done, I can dedicate the rest of the day to helping the People start negotiations.

Reminded by his own thoughts, Jiran turned to Mayalyn.

“You want to go with me for a hunt?”

“You’re going hunting?” Cameron leaned toward them, suddenly interested in the conversation.

“Yes, I am coming with you, I wish to run a few tests,” Mayalyn confirmed.

“Great! Let's go,” Jiran shoved the rest of his food in his mouth before wiping his fingers on his pants with an excited gleam in his eyes.

“No, wait! Please take me with you, I’m so close to the fifth tier, I only need eight more kills and a few attributes. I can help protect her! I can take any blow, no matter how hard, once an hour. See, I’m completely fine after you punched me?” He spread his cheeks with his fingers, showing his teeth and the lack of blood in his mouth.

Father’s above, he’s even weirder than Oliviala. Then again, if that’s true, he really could save Mayalyn in a pinch.

Jiran looked between the two of them several times before he shrugged.

“Fine, but you’ll stay by her side the entire time. If you go running off to do something stupid and she gets hurt, I’ll leave you out there and make you walk back to camp.”

Cameron’s fist smashed into his breastplate in a picturesque salute as a huge smile blossomed across his face.

Olive raised her hand while nervously looking over both her shoulders in turn.

“I, ahh, don’t have much mana right now. It is best if I come with you. I do not feel safe being left alone here, even if you have cleared out the surrounding area.”

“You’re right, that wouldn’t be a very good idea. You can both come,” Jiran nodded curtly,

Without warning, Jiran scooped up all three of them. He grunted at the effort required to lift Cameron, who was much heavier than he appeared, before leaping into the air.

“I didn’t get the chance to ask. What happened to you when you disap—” Jiran sealed the two away in aura so he could fly in peace with Mayalyn.

“They are quite lively,” She said with a soft smile.

“Yeah, they don’t seem so bad. Strange for sure but maybe they’ve just spent too long wandering the countryside.”

“Perhaps. Enough about them. Will you please recharge my enhancing? I used fifteen percent when I countered the boy.”

“Sure, two percent should get you close to your maximum,” Jiran put his hand on her shoulder and sent a shock through her body which she gladly took with curled toes and a little shiver.

After the energy was absorbed, her body began to glow blue and electricity arced across her skin. A few seconds later, both effects faded.

"I went a little over forty-nine there for a second. I felt your mana burning off rapidly then it stopped. That did not feel the same as normal. I… feel a little funny," She shook her head a few times while blinking rapidly.

“Should we head back?”

“No, no. I am fine now. I was not expecting it, that is all. Now that I know, next time, I will push the mana out sooner before I grow dizzy.”

“Okay, glad you figured it out. Makes sense there would be some kind of issue with holding more than your skill cap allows. I’ll try not to overcharge you again.”

As they searched the Outlands for tier four and five beasts, Jiran recounted every detail the cousins had said. Once she was filled in on the parts of the conversation she missed, she spoke.

“This is certainly a valuable opportunity for us, especially since they are already in your debt. I think you should trust them a little more until they prove unworthy.”

“We don’t know them at all but I don’t have a logical explanation for disagreeing with you. I keep expecting every noble I meet to be evil, conceited, and think they are above everyone else. But the ones I’ve met have been some of the best people I know. Maybe you’re right. Still, I’m not going to take any risks. I won’t be leaving you alone with them unless your enhancing is topped off.”

“I certainly will not complain about that. Uhm, Jiran… I have been meaning to thank you for always listening to me. Even when you do not agree with me, you never ignore me. I appreciate that,” They shared a smile and then Mayalyn pointed behind him at a beast rapidly snaking its way across the dusty landscape.

Jiran flew closer to find a creature with a long, serpentine body and a forked tail. It had claw-tipped hands at the end of muscular arms. The spines covering its head and upper back like a lion's mane undulated in the air as if they were whiskers capable of scenting the air.

[Landshark] (Tier 4) 1100/1100 A fast hunter capable of tracking prey over vast distances.

“It’s tier four.”

“Perfect,” She nodded and he could see her eyes already dilating as the hunter within her began to claw its way to the surface.

Jiran coated the outside of his aura with Light Manipulation before landing a short distance away.

"You're really doing this?" he asked Mayalyn.

Her eyes never left the beast as it swayed back and forth in a hypnotic motion.

"What have we been sparring for every morning, if not for this? With so much of your lightning running through me, I am going to run circles around that little snake," Her thick accent drawled out the ‘s’ in a way that tugged on the corner of his lips.

"Are you sure? I can help with the first few. There’s no need to risk yourself for exp. We will have plenty of time late—

"I will be fine! I can tell it is not as fast as I am right now.” Her hand blurred as it cut through the air to interrupt him. Her tone then softened. “Uh, you will be watching in case I need you though, right?"

"Yeah, I'll be right here, go kick its ass, May."

“I do not believe it has an ass. But I will give it one good kick just for you,” She winked before dashing through his aura with a feminine battle cry.

I swear I made the same sound charging into my first fight. I'll bet she does a hell of a lot better than I did.

Jiran released the cousins from his aura. The second Cameron was freed from Jiran’s grip, his feet pounded on the ground as he chased after Mayalyn while excitedly banging his shield and hammer together.

The beast screeched as it reared up high. All of its sharp, spiky hairs rattled and a long tongue slithered out of its mouth as its body twitched in warning and anticipation. The posturing was a feint to distract from its coiling body. A shockwave of power sent it hurtling through the air as it uncoiled in one swift motion. It weaved through the air as if it were still on the ground and arrived before Mayalyn in mere moments.

She was a blur of blue sparks as she dove to the side. The beast tried to correct its path to intercept her evasion and that was when Cameron struck.

“Howling Gale Force Strike!” His shouted technique wrapped his body in gray wind that shot him forward like a bullet to slam into the beast's turned head. The concussion of hammer meeting thick skull blasted dust in every direction, -213. Cameron’s body kept right on sailing past the creature that was now flailing wildly on the hard, cracked ground.

The damage reminded Jiran there was more he could do than stand around waiting to rescue them and he quickly added all three of them to his party.

[Mayalyn Aloyhee] (Tier 3) (312/312) (38%)

[Oliviala Le’Cruex] (Tier 4) (1280/1280) (3%)

[Cameron Amyntas] (Tier 4) (1472/1472) (87%)

Her mana really is low. Shoot, wish I would have added them earlier so I could see how much mana he used on that attack. Only 213 damage… Is he holding back?

Cameron flew around the beast, giving it plenty of space before landing between it and Oliviala. He looked over his shoulder at her with a sloppy grin, clearly enjoying himself.

"Olive, sit this one out! You can't have more than five percent of your mana back and you won't get exp anyway since she's T5. Ahh, pukepuss! I'm not going to get exp either!" He kicked the ground angrily, his smile turning into a scowl in record time.

Olive clicked her tongue before she re-sheathed her sword. Her bunched muscles relaxed and she took a step back to stand next to Jiran.

"What the hell was I thinking begging to come along? What a waste of time and mana!” Cameron continued to groan as the beast stood tall once more, its vibrating mane of spiky hairs rattled as it sent out another warning hiss.

"You two aren't at all what I expected nobles to be like," Jiran mumbled.

In a haughty voice, Olive responded. "Well, expectations are the gateway to disappointment. Or so they say," Olive raised her hand and flicked her long blond hair.

"That's more like it."